The Last of Us Alternate Endings Included Musical Moments, Torture, Says Naughty Dog

The game also featured an actual dog companion early in the development

Alternate game

The development team at Naughty Dog used much of their PAX Prime panel to give fans of The Last of Us more information about the alternate endings that the game could have had and why they were abandoned in favor of the one that was part of the shipped game.

Game Director Bruce Straley and Creative Director Neil Druckmann explained that initially a playable section of the game was supposed to be an extended cinematic, showing main character Joel taking Ellie from a medical facility when he understood that she was about to get killed.

A motion capture session was presented at the Polygon-attended session showing how the cast failed to deliver the proper performance and the team turning the entire sequence into something similar to a Broadway experience, complete with choruses singing about death and rape.

The PAX Prime crowd was surprised and excited by the musical take on the ending for The Last of Us.

The creative team also talked about the version of the game in which Tess became the main antagonist of the story.

Naughty Dog aimed to get Tess to capture and torture Joel towards the end of the game, blaming him for the death of her brother.

A torture scene was supposed to be the high point of the game as Joel tried to make sure that his enemies did not find out where Ellie was and that they were unable to follow and kill her.

The girl was supposed to watch the scene and take her first human life by killing Tess.

Naughty Dog also says that, at one point, it planned to introduce a dog companion for the player’s party but the idea never got past the concept stage.

Recently, comments from Naughty Dog have suggested that the team is already working on a sequel for The Last of Us and that downloadable content might also continue to arrive late in 2013.